Full Report
Kaspersky’s mission incorporates education on all levels, including collaborations with universities. As part of this mission, we have been working with the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) for the past eighteen months.
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: Kaspersky ICS CERT Expands Academic Partnership with Deggendorf Institute of Technology
## Summary
Kaspersky ICS CERT has formalized a virtual education initiative in collaboration with the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) to bridge the skills gap in Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and IoT security. The partnership utilizes interactive workshops and real-world threat analysis to train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals in specialized industrial defense.
## Key Details
- **Date:** November 24, 2020
- **Companies Involved:** Kaspersky (ICS CERT), Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT), Hagenberg University
- **Category:** Partnership / Educational Initiative
## The Story
Building on an eighteen-month relationship, Kaspersky’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS CERT) launched a series of virtual interactive sessions designed for computer science students and regional industrial customers. The program focuses on the "Hacker’s Journey," moving from theoretical vulnerabilities to practical exploits in niche sectors like maritime security, electronic locking systems, and Industrial IoT (IIoT).
The curriculum, led by researchers Maria Garnaeva, Stephan Gerling, and Roland Sako, covers the lifecycle of industrial attacks, forensic investigation techniques, and hands-on malware classification using Yara rules. This initiative represents a shift toward "applied threat intelligence," where proprietary research is converted into educational modules to foster a more resilient industrial ecosystem.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **Kaspersky:** Strengthens its brand presence in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and builds a recruitment pipeline for specialized ICS talent.
- **Deggendorf Institute of Technology:** Enhances its academic prestige by providing students direct access to front-line threat intelligence and industry-standard tools.
### For Competitors
- Competitors like Forescout, Claroty, or Dragos may face increased pressure to provide similar high-level educational community engagement to maintain thought leadership in the ICS space.
### For Customers
- Existing and potential Kaspersky customers in the region benefit from a better-educated workforce and a direct line to ICS CERT experts, potentially lowering the barrier for future professional services engagements.
### For the Market
- This signals a trend toward "Public-Private-Academic" partnerships as a standard for addressing the chronic shortage of qualified OT (Operational Technology) security specialists.
## Technical Implications
The sessions highlighted specific technical methodologies, including:
- **IIoT Device Analysis:** Reverse-engineering devices from scratch to identify architectural weaknesses.
- **Yara Essential Training:** Teaching students to use Yara for real-time malware identification and classification.
- **Forensic Investigation:** Methods for investigating vulnerabilities in physical access control systems and maritime infrastructure.
## Strategic Analysis
- **Market Positioning:** Kaspersky is positioning itself not just as a software vendor, but as a critical educational pillar in the OT security community.
- **Competitive Advantage:** By integrating its ICS CERT research directly into university curricula, Kaspersky embeds its methodology and tools into the early professional habits of future security engineers.
- **Challenges:** Geopolitical tensions can often hamper university partnerships for global cybersecurity firms; maintaining transparency and purely technical focus is essential to mitigate these risks.
## Industry Reactions
- **Professor Andreas Grzemba (DIT):** Noted that the collaboration provides "invaluable real-life experience" that traditional academic settings often lack.
- **Market Response:** The inclusion of "potential customers" in these academic sessions indicates a successful "Land and Expand" marketing strategy disguised as educational outreach.
## Future Outlook
- **Predictions:** Expect an expansion of this program in March 2021, likely incorporating more cloud-based ICS simulation labs.
- **What to watch for:** Whether other cybersecurity firms follow suit with "Virtual Labs" to capture the attention of remote students during continued shifts in digital education.
## For Security Professionals
Practitioners should note the emphasis on **Yara** and **IIoT reverse engineering** as high-demand skills in the current OT landscape. The democratization of ICS CERT research through these programs offers a "look under the hood" at how top-tier researchers analyze industrial malware, providing a blueprint for internal SOC training.